How to sit if you want to avoid back pain

I know you spend a lot of time sitting and your back is stiff all the time.

Sitting is one of those positions that just makes you want to melt and slump into your chair.

Most people sit either with a flat lumbar spine or an overarched lumbar spine. These dysfunctional sitting postures can have a drastic effect on your health, as they lead to compression of the spinal discs.

On top of this, if you’re under a lot of stress – which could easily be the case if your work requires you to sit and you’re in a stressful environment – your sympathetic nervous system is on constant overload.

Because of this, you’re not sleeping well and you have poor digestion. If you repeat this cycle every day for years and decades of your life, you’re looking at developing serious health problems, premature aging and even dying prematurely.

Well, for starters, try to not sit so much. If you have to sit, sit with proper posture:

– Find your SITS bones. Get in a chair and notice two hard, firm bumps. You want to sit right on top of them
– If you tilt your butt back, you will feel them move backwards
– If you slump or tuck your tail under, you will feel them move forward
– Go through this sequence again and notice how it affects your ribcage and the position of your head and shoulders

It’s really hard to keep everything lined up and always sit with the best posture, but every time you catch yourself slumping or arching your back and you correct your posture, you won one battle against pain!

Be sure to take a look at the picture below. It will give you a visual of poor sitting posture.

I really want you to start feeling better and understand, the big picture is made up by small pieces. If you do your part and fix your sitting posture, you’re going to experience less hip, lower back, upper back, shoulder and neck pain.